Random Encounter Table for a Haunted Train Train Station.

[twingle93]

Situation: Writing an adventure where PCs are at a train station where numerous supernatural events are occurring in a Beyond the Supernatural game. While they are waiting for their train to arrive, I want to come up with a random encounter table for some things to occur.

They can range from mundane (conductor is rude to them) to dangerous (train goes speeding at them from out of nowhere) to bizarre (portal opens up, taking the PCs to another dimension).

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Alrik Vas]

One of the PC's sees a dead loved one waiting in line to get a ticket. Engaging this person finds the PC largely ignored, the apparition staring on, maybe they say somethng about the PC that's a little bittersweet. Just as the apparition seems like it's about to look at the character, it fades away.

[MaxxSterling]

Roll a D20.

1-7 A conductor is rude to them.
8-15 A train comes speeding out of nowhere at them.
16-20 A portal opens up taking the PC's to another dimension.

Done!

[arouetta]

The feeling of a hand caressing the back of the neck/shoulder of a PC. When the PC turns around, the sensation stops and nothing is there.

[Noon]

Who else hangs out at the train station (living or otherwise)?

[drewkitty ~..~]

There is a BTS random encounter table article in R62.

[Mr. Jays]

The character board a train. During the course of the trip they all fall asleep. When they wake up...they arrive somewhere they couldn't possible be.

1. They arrive at the station were they boarded the train...the day before they arrived.
2. They arrive in London, England 1889 or any other time and place
3. They arrive at their destination faster than the train could possibly travel.
4. They arrive at their destination apparently as though nothing has happened, however everyone they have ever met does not know who they are
5. They arrive at their destination but the party's minds have been swapped into other characters bodies.

just to get you started

[Killer Cyborg]

Situation: Writing an adventure where PCs are at a train station where numerous supernatural events are occurring in a Beyond the Supernatural game. While they are waiting for their train to arrive, I want to come up with a random encounter table for some things to occur.

They can range from mundane (conductor is rude to them) to dangerous (train goes speeding at them from out of nowhere) to bizarre (portal opens up, taking the PCs to another dimension).

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Ghost train pulls into station.

[twingle93]

Here's the table I have so far.

Station Encounters:

1% “Hey, buddy, you forgot your bag!" You didn't, but before you can object, the man is gone. You open the bag and find something useful to the adventure inside.

2% "Shine your shoes?" A young shoe-shine boy looks up at you hopefully. A shoe-shine costs $1. If you agree, he talks about all sorts of interesting topics while shining your shoes. Next to the shoe-shine station, a man in a long raincoat and matching gloves sits reading a newspaper. He never moves, and the shiner never acknowledges him.

3% A nervous-looking man is moving quickly through the crowd, with a station guard in pursuit. The anxious man bumps into you, falls to the ground, and drops a package. If the PCs make the appropriate roll, they can grab the package and escape before the guard arrives.

4% A porter drops what looks like an ancient relic on the tracks. If the PC wants to try and grab it, make a speed roll. If they pass, they find something useful. If they fail, the PC takes damage by the oncoming train.

5% A passenger on a train currently in-station shouts to the players for help. He has become aware that he cannot get off the train because events don't let it happen. Incoming and disembarking passengers always block the way. When the train is empty, if he approaches the exit the doors shut and the train departs. That's it. He can't get off, and he knows it. Nothing they do will get him off the train. If your plot starts to... *snerk* derail, just have the train expel them somehow. Station security, teleported, whatever. Then it leaves. They're not on it, but he is. At one of the windows. Screaming and beating his fists on it as the train departs.

6% A billowing fog cloud rushes into the station and covers everything for five minutes. You hear mysterious, echoing murmurs and a faint, ghostly steam whistle, before it all dissipates as quickly as it came.

7% You notice that the shadows coming from the lights aren't falling right.

8% A well-dressed man is standing on the platform. He turns and greets you by name. Although he seems oddly familiar, you don't remember ever meeting him before. Then he steps off the platform into the path of a speeding train. If the characters attempt to save him, he vanishes as the PC leaps right through him. On the ground, they find themselves clutching a scrap of paper, a scroll for an important spell. If they fail, he is obliterated before their eyes. Nobody in the station seem to notice.

9% A man comes up to you and offers to sell you a rail pass. "Just $3, and you can ride the train all you want for a month."

10% You notice a certain passenger getting on and off every single train that leaves/enters the station.

11% A man leaves a briefcase next to one of the PCs. If they chose to take and open it, they find a large sum of money inside as well as a notebook filled with occult writing.

12% On some of the trains that leave, the PCs think they see themselves in the cars.

13% Some passengers are making small talk with each other in earshot of the PCs seem to be talking about events which have not happened yet. Something like a recent local election, when there hasn't been one lately, but one is scheduled for a few weeks from now.

14% There is a schedule on display that shows commuter trains to well known satellite towns and express trains to familiar cities in the country. Only some station names are strangely unfamiliar, not ancient, just... slightly off. Maybe an entire line even comes with a whole list of stops nobody has ever heard of. Detailed observation reveals that there is no arriving train from that direction on the schedule, only departures.

15% Something is left on a bench, a bag, suitcase, or just a folded newspaper. Within are wildly unreasonable things (a vial containing a black oil, no longer used insignia, a square of canvas, a dried flower, a rifle cartridge) and a few cryptic notes in a pocket journal revealing a surreal experience documented in mad scribblings. No owner is ever found.

16% At the station, there is a rundown newsstand. Should the PCs purchase a newspaper, they'll be surprised to discover that the paper they've bought is tomorrow's edition, and accurately reports on events yet to happen that day. For example, a newspaper headline tells of a grisly train wreck. The date on the paper is tomorrow's date. All the other papers have today's headline. (The man sitting in the shoe-shine chair in the previous encounter might be reading the same paper)

17% One of the players drops whatever they're holding, and when it hits the ground, everyone on the platform falls silent and stares at the party for several seconds. Then they go back about their business and, if pressed, won't remember stopping.

18% You notice that there are birds in the beams above the tracks. Big black birds. They don't swoop, and no caw can be heard. They just watch, intently. They're all looking at different people below, but if you look up, they all start staring back at you.

19% Hot peanuts are for sale at a pushcart. You may pay up to $3 and regain 1D6 Hit Points/S.D.C for every $1 spent.

20% An old man looks carefully around him before pressing a wrapped bundle into your hands. "Here. This is what you need." With that, he walks away without another word.

21% You find a battered old book lying on a ledge near the trains. Reading through it, you find that it contains a letter addressed to you. "Please, take the information contained with this book and use it to combat those things that we both know are lurking just out of sight."

22% An old train hand sits on the train platform playing his guitar as he awaits the next train. As you listen to his singing you feel yourself healing inside. P.P.E. Hit Points, and S.D.C are restored as though an hour of meditation or a night of sleep has occurred.

23% There's been a rash of pickpocketing in the train station.

24% Wearily, you sit down on one of the benches near the rails. It seems as though the weight of the whole world rests upon your shoulders. If only you could just give up. You're just about ready to buy a one-way ticket as far from here as you can go when the sound of two giggling children draws your attention. A little boy and girl are playing together under their mother's watchful gaze. As you watch them play, you're reminded of why you're doing all this. P.P.E. Hit Points, and S.D.C are restored as though an hour of meditation or a night of sleep has occurred.

25% You bump into a friend who's returned from London with his financée. They've brought back the most delightful souvenirs!

26% You find a key to a locker on the ground, but the tag that shows its number has been removed.

27% You overhear the engineer talking. "I swear to you we hit something just outside of town. Something unnatural. And it weren't dead when we left it!"

28% Someone left the door to the gents' toilet open, and the smell rolls over the PCs like a thick, evil cloud. The worst of the stench comes to them then, a smell so malodorous it was almost choking. The smell is so putrid that it feels like it solidifies in their nostrils. The characters must roll under their Physical Endurances number once every minute to avoid vomiting from the stench (even characters with a P.E. of 20 or higher must roll a 17 or lower to save, despite their high endurance). The intensity incites open revolt in their insides, and it brings tears to their eyes even when they try filtering their breath, even though this provides +3 to save.

29% You notice that the station clock has thirteen hours on it, and five hands.

30% You notice that all the station staff look the same.

31% You hear screaming or growling over the station/train announcement.

32% A ticket conductor passes through every hour on the dot, but every time he looks slightly older until he stops all together.

33% The sound of tracks being hammered into place echoing in a lonely station/area.

34% A train passes by rapidly--old and out of date. The passengers all have their faces pressed against the widows, distorted and screaming in horror. Other people on the platform don't react as though anything has happened.

35% A conductor comes up and asks for tickets. If they hand them over he laughs, and says "That train derailed 20 years ago.." then walks off.

36% A young man bumps into them. He's late for his train. He's dressed for the wrong century. He rushes off to catch his train and disappears from sight.

37% A horde of enthusiastic children swarming the platform and spilling onto the tracks for 1D6 minutes. In the next breath, act as if nothing had happened.

38% A young woman furrowing her brow as she reads a newspaper with a conspicuous headline (up to you). She rounds the corner and disappears from sight. It happens again every 3D6 minutes.

39% A man in a suit reciting a prophecy that loops like a mobeius strip: no discernible ending, because they start hearing it midway, and it eventually connects to the point where they started hearing it and keeps going for some amount of time.

40% You find a wallet containing receipts for purchases made the day they entered the station: Two bags of salt, a bottle of vinegar, an assortment of colored chalk, two dozen candles, and an expensive box of handmade chocolate. If the stores where the receipts are from are visited (or re-visited), the store clerks remember the characters - and their "daughter" that they were doing shopping with. The clerk at the chocolate shop asks if she liked the chocolate, and where the characters had purchased her magnificent retro-fashion dress. A few sessions later, during another adventure, one character will receive a message from an antique store close by the train station telling that "their order has arrived" and upon arrival will receive an item appropriate to their current situation. Ordered and prepaid on the missing day, with a large sum of money no character is missing. The store owner remembers the "lovely and well-behaved child" that was with the characters. During yet another session, one character will return home and find some empty chocolate wrappers on the kitchen table. Along with a situationally helpful message written in neat handwriting.

41% A train pulls into the station unannounced. Its doors open, nobody gets off. Other people on the platform appear unaware that the train is there. A conductor with cold, lifeless eyes asks the party if they are getting on.

42% A man begging for change accosts the character, if they give him anything he grabs on and warns them "The trains, the trains..don't leave, they're not right!"

[Alrik Vas]

I like these. great work!